1. She almost died at five
Gupta accidentally swallowed a bottle of sugar-coated epilepsy pills at a relative’s home when she was five years old. “They had to pump them out of my body… I’m lucky I survived,” she says. “I consider this my second lease on life.”

2. She can cook up a storm
The 30-year-old was keen on becoming a professional chef, but the fact that she’s vegetarian derailed her plans. “I started cooking when I was 12 and loved it,” she says. Then she met one of her dad’s friends—a top chef in a five-star hotel in Delhi—who told her the most she would be able to do is open a small vegetarian restaurant. “Doing something small has never figured in my plans,” she says, “so I let go of that dream.”

3. She’s no pageant princess
She was a self-confessed mess as a Miss India 2007 contestant, and decides that she could have done better had she not plunged into it blindly (despite her self-flagellation, she did place third.) “I joined because my mum pushed me to do it. Once there, I realised that all the other girls had been preparing for years for this pageant.” Luckily, even though she had no training, her career in the fashion industry took off. She soon snagged a spot in the prestigious Kingfisher Calendar as well as a seminal Vogue India cover with four sultry models in April 2010.

4. She bagged her first role in minutes
“I’d just finished a two-month course at Anupam Kher’s acting school and started going for small auditions. That’s when I heard the Bhatts were looking for a heroine. So I auditioned for Mukesh Bhatt, and just like that, I got chosen to play Jhanvi in Jannat 2 [2012],” says Gupta, who replaced actor Prachi Desai a fortnight before filming. After the box-office hit, she went on to star in Raaz 3D and the critically acclaimed Chakravyuh the same year.

5. She’s been mobbed
“The first shot we took [in Jannat 2] was in Daryaganj in Delhi, which was teeming with 2,000 to 3,000 Emraan Hashmi fans. The only scene I had was to bump into Emraan, but it was crazy. People were calling out his name, asking him to kiss me… After the shoot they literally jumped on us!”

6. She’ll sniff you out
“For me, it’s all about smell. I have a very sensitive nose—my dad says I’m like a dog!”

7. She’s still starry-eyed
She wants to be wooed on-screen by the Khans—Shah Rukh and Salman—Akshay Kumar and Ranbir Kapoor. Among the women, Madhuri, Sridevi, Kareena and Priyanka are all inspirations. “Even their smiles drive people crazy,” Gupta says. And if she had her way, she’d be a Bond babe to every 007 from Sean to Daniel.

8. She’s a natural
“Anyone who thinks I’ve had surgery should take a closer look at my face. The laugh lines, the wrinkles… they’re all there. I’ve just been lucky to have good make-up artists who make my face look flawless.”

9. She tells it like it is
She quit the fashion industry not because she wanted to pursue a career in acting, but because she was fed up of being sidelined by run-of-the-mill showstoppers. “Here we were, beautiful models, clapping for so-called stars who weren’t worth it. I just didn’t want to do that any more.”